The Hitchhiker's Guide to the D/P Battle Tower

Though the Battle Tower is not new to Diamond and Pearl, it has evolved significantly since its original implementation in Pokemon Crystal. Its purpose is to challenge players beyond the normal boundaries of ingame play, rewarding those players who continually win battles against increasingly difficult opponents. This guide aims to familiarize players with the many aspects of the offline Battle Tower.

The Battle Tower only becomes available to players who have defeated the Elite Four, at which time, it is possible to travel to the Battle Tower by speaking to a sailor south of Snowpoint City. You will find the Battle Tower north of the Fight Zone, which is the location that the sailor whisks you off to after accepting his offer to do so.

Players select a team of 2 - 4 Pokemon to bring with them (depending on the mode chosen), and must use only those Pokemon in a series of 7 battles. The Pokemon are, of course, healed after each encounter - you're not expected to battle 7 times in a row with an increasingly weakened team! The objective is to win each of the 7 battles, which are then added to the player's running total in that particular mode. This is referred to as the winning streak of the player.

It is possible to elect to take a break between each battle. The game is then saved and reset. The next time the game is entered, you're obliged to pick up your challenge where you left off, until such a time that you either lose or win the 7th battle in the series you're in. However, should the DS be turned off at any other time, such as in the middle of a battle, your challenge will be automatically ended.

When selecting a team to use in the Battle Tower, there are several constraints to keep in mind. You will be battling against level 50 Pokemon, and as such, the Pokemon you bring will be the same level. Should you elect to bring a Pokemon above level 50 to the challenge, it will be scaled down to level 50 to put it on an even playing ground with the opposition. Once your challenge is completed, it will return to its normal level. Keep in mind that although Pokemon can be scaled down to level 50, they will not be scaled up. This means you can't bring, for example, a level 30 Pokemon in the hopes that you don't have to train it to level 50.

It's advisable to attach an item to each of the Pokemon you select to bring with you to use in the Battle Tower. You may only use one specific type of item on one Pokemon per team. What this basically means is that you can't walk into a Battle Tower challenge with Leftovers (or any item) on 2 of your 3 team members. While there are many items to choose from, the following can be considered as "staple" items.

Single Battle

The Single Battle Mode of the Battle Tower can perhaps be referred to as the flagship battle mode that the Battle Tower has to offer, in which the player will select a group of three Pokemon to compete against the AI. Battles become more "difficult" as the player progresses. The Pokemon that the player faces are generated at random from a list of 950 pre-determined Pokemon. Obviously, that means that there is more than one variant of many Pokemon that you can run into. The Pokemon that comprise this list can be referred to separately.

Though almost all battles in the Single Battle challenge are generated at random, there are two instances in which they are set almost completely in stone. At battle #21, as well as battle #49, the player will be challenged by the Palmer, the Battle Tower Tycoon. His teams for each battle are set in stone, though the order in which his Pokemon are used isn't. Note that the player also receives 20 BP for defeating Palmer as opposed to the regular amount.

Double Battle

In the Double Battle Mode, you must select four of your own Pokemon to bring with you to battle the opponent in a 2v2 format. The Pokemon the player is pitted against are randomly drawn from the same pre-generated list as the Pokemon you battle in the Single Battle Mode. The Tower Tycoon does not challenge the player to a battle at any point throughout the Double Battle challenge.

Multi Battle

In the Multi Battle Mode, players are partnered up with another Pokemon trainer. Both trainers select two Pokemon to enter the challenge with, battling cooperatively in a 2v2 format. While you, of course, can pick your own Pokemon, your opponent's Pokemon will always be random. The following list shows each trainer's Pokemon, as well as their possible movesets.

Note that it is also possible to team up with a partner using the wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS. In that case, obviously both you and your partner will select two Pokemon to bring with you into the challenge. From that point, the challenge operates in the same way.

The Wi-Fi Battle mode operates in almost the same way as the Single Battle mode. However, there are a few notable differences. You need to connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi to use this feature, as instead of facing randomly generated teams, you will be facing the teams of those who have also undertaken the challenge. These teams will still be controlled by the Battle Tower AI, however. Also, at no point will you be challenged by the Tower Tycoon. The Wi-Fi Battle system has an implemented ranking system. In the simplest sense, your rank will increase based on the amount of battles you win. If you consistently lose battles, you'll find that your rank can also drop.

The table located here shows the 950 pregenerated Pokemon you're likely to encounter throughout your Battle Tower challenge. These Pokemon are sorted into four distinct "tiers", only appearing at certain points throughout your challenge. The only tiers that will overlap are tiers 3 and 4, starting from battle 50 (49 is the Tower Tycoon).

As you succeed in your challenges, you'll be rewarded with Battle Points, or BP. This provides a good incentive to continue with the Battle Tower challenge, as you can use BP to purchase items and TMs that you may not be able to obtain again otherwise. If you're only in it for the BP, the quickest way to obtain it is to end your challenge after battling the Tower Tycoon, and playing through to defeat again for 20 BP.

By now you may have decided that you think you've got what it takes to win continuously at the Battle Tower in a particular mode. Keep in mind that there is a lot more to consider than building a team for competitive battling on a regular basis. There are many things people building their own teams often forget; here's a quick rundown.

You don't have a full team of Pokemon with you. Depending on the mode you choose to battl 170 Atk
e in, you'll have between 2 and 4 Pokemon at your disposal. This means there are many threats to cover with fewer Pokemon, so keep that in mind when putting together your team.

Your opponents aren't bound by "standard" clauses. This is important to remember. Though you may be used to battling competitively with clauses such as Sleep Clause and Evasion Clause to make the game more "fair", there are no such limits imposed in the Battle Tower. This means that your opponent can put your entire team to sleep at the same time, and can use OHKO moves. Make no mistake, you'll come up against opponents that attempt to do just that. The silver lining here, of course, is that you can do the same. However, don't fall into the trap of doing so just for the sake of it.

There's little room for stall. With only three Pokemon on your team, should your opponent get a lucky hit against one of your team, or put them to sleep, you'll find your defensive capabilities quickly breaking down. Though being able to take hits is nice, you really want to be dealing them out to position the battle in your favor. With the many advantages the AI already has over you, you can't afford to let it set the pace!

With these concepts in mind, let's take a look at some successful teams that were able to put them into practice. The following teams that have done exceptionally well in the Single Battle mode, reaching in excess of 200 straight wins!

This team, put together by Team Rocket Elite, takes advantage of the AI's lack of "intuition"; that is, it will attack regardless of Destiny Bond costing it a Pokemon just to remove one of Team Rocket Elite's from the picture. The general strategy is to knock out just one Pokemon before being able to use Destiny Bond on the remaining two. This team is especially effective due to its ability to easily handle status moves on continuous basis, as well as being able to bypass the evasion modifiers of those that use Double Team and Brightpowder with Froslass' Taunt (though it must switch after using it) and Destiny Bond.

This team was originally crafted by Jumpman16, and takes to heart the offensive nature of the 3v3 format. It's crafted to win battles before the opposition has a chance to respond. The idea is to take out as much as possible with Starmie, switching Garchomp into possible Electric moves. If Starmie kills the first Pokemon, often the game is over then and there, as Tyranitar can be easily sacrificed to allow a key switch between Starmie and Garchomp, while also acting as a means of absorbing status moves, as well as setting up Sand Stream to negate Focus Sash.

These two teams serve as excellent examples of how to put together a winning team to take on the Battle Tower challenge. However, don't think that they are the be all and end all of teams; many others have had similar successes with completely different teams. Of course, teams should be adapted to each respective mode, but the threats in each mode remain largely constant. For examples of teams that have done well in all modes, take a look at this thread on the Smogon forums.

Armed with this knowledge, we wish you good luck in what will hopefully be a very successful Battle Tower career!